Captain Thomas Middleton

Biography of Captain Thomas Middleton

Thomas Middleton was born on the 11th April 1889 in Govan, Lanarkshire, to Rachel and Charles, who worked as a ship-joiner. The family later lived on Crow Road.

In 1906 Thomas came to the University of Glasgow to study Science. He took Maths, Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. 17th November 1910 he graduated BSc with a special distinction in Astronomy, having won a first class certificate in the subject. Thomas had also taken classes in the arts, such as History and Latin, and on 20th June 1911 he graduated MA. Following this he took yet more classes, this time in Engineering, winning prizes in Engineering Drawing and Design and Electrical Engineering .

On 3rd October 1911, Thomas enrolled for teacher training at the Glasgow Provincial Training College, forerunner of Jordanhill College of Education, now the University of Strathclyde. He completed the one-year course for teachers of higher subjects on 28th June 1912 to qualify as a teacher of Mathematics and Science. However, he never obtained a teaching post, a note in the College register of students explaining that he ‘Does not desire to teach. [He] Has taken up another profession, & if successful will give up teaching.’

During the First World War, Thomas served as a Captain with the 16th Highland Light Infantry. He died at the Somme on the 1st July 1916. Captain Thomas Middleton is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial in France, and on the Roll of Honour of the Glasgow Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers. Shortly after the war, his father also died, meaning that Thomas’s name was not initially inscribed on the University of Glasgow Roll of Honour.